The present invention relates generally to syringe interfaces and syringe adapters and, more particularly, to syringe interfaces and syringe adapters for use with medical injectors and to medical injector systems using such syringe interfaces and adapters.
A number of injector-actuated syringes and powered injectors for use in medical procedures such as angiography, computed tomography, ultrasound and NMR/MRI have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,736, for example, discloses an injector and syringe for injecting fluid into the vascular system of a human being or an animal. Typically, such injectors comprise drive members such as pistons that connect to a syringe plunger. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,980, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an angiographic injector and syringe wherein the drive member of the injector can be connected to, or disconnected from, the syringe plunger at any point along the travel path of the plunger via a releasable mechanism. A front-loading syringe and injector system is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The front-loading injector of U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858 includes a mounting mechanism for securing the syringe to the front wall of the injector. Other types of mounting mechanisms for front-loading syringes are disclosed in PCT Publication No. WO 01/37903 and U.S. patent application Publication No. 2001-47153, each assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Specifically designed mounting mechanisms generally prevent the use of syringes of other various types with front-loading injectors. Syringe adapters attachable to those front-loading injectors are sometimes used to allow the use of such syringes with the front-loading injectors.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,653 discloses several adapters designed to allow the use of various syringes with a front-loading injector. In one embodiment, the adapter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,653 includes a syringe carrier having a front end, a rear end, and syringe-retaining channel located between the carrier front and rear ends for engaging at least a portion of the syringe flange. Mounting flanges near the rearward end of the carrier releasably mount the carrier in a desired position relative to the front wall of the injector. Likewise, Japanese Pat. Publication No. 09-122234 discloses another adapter that allows use of various syringes with a front-loading injector. In this adapter, a pair of pinching elements rotates to contact a portion of a syringe including a rear syringe flange and retain the syringe upon the adapter.
Although a number of syringe interfaces and adapters are currently available, it remains desirable to develop improved interfaces and adapters for use with syringes of various types to permit use of such syringes with medical or other injectors.